MBA enrollment numbers generally have remained flat over the last few years, but Chicago business schools insist their programs aren't suffering. Instead, they're diversifying — offering prospective students more options.

Taking a page from other Chicago schools, Liautaud is responding in the fall with a Saturday program that offers flexibility for those who can't attend school during the week.

"We do believe we're a strong value option," assistant dean Mary Corbitt Clark said of UIC, the only public school among six Chicago-based schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. "We are committing to our students that if they can stick with us, they can get an MBA in two years."

Several Chicago business schools say they've seen stagnant enrollment for their MBA programs since 2008. That largely coincided with a statewide drop in the number of people who took the GMAT exam, an admissions assessment for graduate business-studies programs. In Illinois, the GMAT numbers steadily declined from 2008 to 2011, said Tracey Briggs of the Graduate Management Admission Council, which administers the test. Briggs attributed a 2012 uptick to a large number who wanted to take the test before it added a section on integrated reasoning.

Experts say the drop in enrollment is the result of an improved economy — prospective MBA students choosing work over school.

And if the economy continues to improve, the Chicago region's business schools may continue to compete for fewer MBA students.

"The economy is improving at best, stable at worst," said Jon Frank, CEO of Admissionado, a consulting firm for college applicants. "Many folks will wonder if it's worth investing two potentially promising economic years in an MBA program."

Frank said he expects that enrollment will continue to decline, unless schools are able to persuade potential applicants, especially those who would have to leave jobs to attend school full time, that the high cost of an MBA is worth it.

"An MBA costs far more than simply tuition plus room and board," he wrote in an email. "The real cost has to include two years if not more of deferred salary, so as salaries increase, the cost of the MBA increases too."

Some schools attribute static MBA enrollment to a change in student demand. UIC's Clark said the school's enrollment decline has been accompanied by an increase in enrollment in the accounting and management information systems master's programs.

At Loyola University Chicago, Quinlan School of Business spokesman Brendan Shea said its MBA program has received about the same number of annual applications for the past five years. Yet Quinlan data showed a 70 percent increase in applicants to the business school's graduate programs from 2008 through 2012.

"Students are really showing a stronger interest in a specialized program … deeper knowledge in a specialized subject area," said Quinlan dean Kathleen Getz. The school's master of integrated marketing communications and master in human resources programs are among those doing well, she said.

DePaul University's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, which also has seen decreased MBA enrollment, is promoting its weekend and part-time MBA programs, said Robert Ryan, assistant dean and director.

Kristen Justus, a weekend MBA student at Kellstadt, said the Saturday option works for her. "Every Saturday, it's the same 15 or so people," she said, pointing to a diversity in ages and industries. "It's really become a community."

The Illinois Institute of Technology Stuart School of Business bucks the MBA enrollment trend. School data showed that IIT went from 109 MBA students in 2008 to 146 today.

Krishna Erramilli, professor of marketing and director of the Stuart School of Business MBA program, said the school plans further — but not too much — MBA growth.

"We have a strategic policy that we would like to remain at a certain size simply because we see advantages in small- and medium-sized programs," Erramilli said. "I don't think we'll ever be a program with a thousand MBA students."

Most IIT students are from other countries, he said.

"Today you have to deal with global customers, global suppliers, global partners," Erramilli said. "So (American students) get a great firsthand experience here."